Salted Caramel Marshmallows

A couple of years back I decided to give my friends a Christmas gift of hot chocolate and home-made marshmallows. I made bourbon, peppermint, and salted caramel marshmallow. Here’s the recipe for the salted caramel ones, I’m sure I’ll be posting the other two along with my version of hot chocolate (think Mexican and slightly spicy). Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Marshmallows

Caramel Sauce (recipe below)

2 packages of Knox unflavored gelatin

3/4 cups water divided (1/2 cup cold, 1/4 cup)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup divided (1/4 cup & 1/4 cup)

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 tsp real vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup cornstarch

Directions

Sift together the powdered sugar and cornstarch and put in a bag (ziplock works great).

Add the 2 packages of gelatin in with the 1/2 cups of cold water in a microwave safe bowl.

In a medium pot add 1/4 cup of corn 1/4 cup of water sea salt and bring to a boil. Cook until it reaches 240 degrees (so you’ll need a thermometer for this recipe), stir occasionally.

In a stand mixer, I love my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, put in the remaining 1/4 cup of corn syrup. Nuke the gelatin mixture for 30 seconds until it’s completely dissolved and liquid. Add that into the mixer and start mixing on low.

Now be very careful here! Once the sugar mixture is at 240 degrees we’re going to slowly add it to the mixer. IT’S REALLY HOT! I’d hate for you to burn yourself! Once you’ve got it in start to slowly turn up the speed. Keep beating until it’s pretty much tripled in volume and it pretty white and fluffy. At this point add in the vanilla and beat for another minute or two.

Take the caramel sauce you’ve made and fold it into the marshmallow mix.

Take a 8×8 pan and spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Take some of the powdered sugar/cornstarch mix and coat the pan with it. So what does that mean? Dump about 1/2 cup in and start tilting the pan around so the mixture adheres to all sides. I recommend doing this over your sink.

Dump the mixture into the pan, put a coating (I recommend using a sieve) over the top and let it set for at least 8 hours in a cool, dry place.

Once it’s set, use a knife to loosen it from the sides of the pan and dump it out onto a cutting board. I use a Scraper (if you don’t know what this is click the link, you don’t have to but it) to cut it into cubes. Size depends on what you want your marshmallows to be. As you’re cutting them but them into the powdered sugar/corn starch mixture and shake them up to coat, this prevents them from sticking.

Salted Caramel Sauce

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tsp light corn syrup

3 tbsp cream

1/8 tsp sea salt

Directions

In a medium pot add the sugar, water and corn syrup over medium-high heat. Stir to disolve the sugar. Once it’s melted stop stiring! At this point gently swirl the pan occasionally. You want the mixture to turn to a nice golden brown. Be careful! You don’t want to burn it. Once it’s golden take it off the heat and add the cream, whisking quickly. Careful! It will bubble, hiss and steam. Whisk in the salt and cool slightly.